Specificity of voluntary and involuntary autobiographical memories in depression

Autobiographical memories are memories from one's personal past. They are distinguished from other forms of memory by their self-referent nature. studies of voluntary autobiographical memory recall have repeatedly found that individuals with depression are prone to retrieve fewer specific autobiographical memories than non-depressed controls (for a review see Williams et al, 1996). This phenomenon Is commonly referred to as the over- generality effect. Over-general recall has been found to be highly correlated with failure to recover from depression. It has been found to be present prior to the onset of a depressive episode and also after the depression remits. It seems that over-generality may be a trait marker which could possibly be indicative of vulnerability to persistent depression (Brittlebank, Scott, Williams & Ferrier, 1993). The over-generality effect therefore appears to be a clinically relevant feature of depression.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo